Tiger Cruise
by Michael2
Summary: A tiger cruise. What is a tiger cruise? Why, a tiger cruise is a cruise where family and friends of a ship's crew and Space marine detachment can visit to get a taste of what their loved ones go through on a deployment. Join the crew of the U.E.S. Tokugawa and observe their daily life. (COMPLETE)
1. Chapter 1

United Nations Spacy Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parina-Sterling emerges from the elevator. Other men and women in business suits walk along the hallway, situated between a wall and a window. She glances out through the window. From there, the commander can see across the East River into the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York, tall skyscrapers rising from the ground. The battle damage from the war five years before had almost all been repaired. Then again, there had been at least something to repair, in contrast to many other places which were reduced to smoking craters.

Miriya steps inside a ladies' room. Looking at a mirror above a sink, she checks her uniform of the day- in this case, a Class "C" summer uniform, consisting of a white blouse and white skirt, the typical service uniform worn during the summer, which it is in New York City. After making sure the ribbons pinned onto the blouse are all in order, she leaves the room.

She sits on a leather sofa in a hallway just a few feet from a pair of double doors. Two blue-uniformed guards stand by the doors; they are armed with batons and M-9 Beretta semiautomatic pistols. The commander is preparing to debriefing- not at U.N. Spacy headquarters or even United Nations Supreme Command Headquarters, but at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York.

 _Dana should be with Max and Rick at Times Square by now,_ she thinks. _Well, this is where I hurry up and wait._

And so Miriya waits for about an hour. And then the doors open and a lady in a suit walks out.

"Commander Sterling," says the lady. "They are ready for you."

"On my way," replies Miriya. She walks through the two doors. Inside is a huge room with a huge glass booth. Inside the glass booth is a long-U-shaped table with people sitting around in various types of outfits, some civilian, some military. The commander suspects the booth is used to disrupt electronic communications.

She walks inside the booth, standing at attention. She had been informed that she would be debriefing the United Nations Joint Chiefs of Staff, other military commanders, and members of the United Nations Security Council.

Miriya recognizes some of the people in this booth. One of them, a red-haired, grayish-skinned man wearing a blue cloak over a purple coat, is Minister Exedore of the Zentraedi Nation. Another man, wearing a short sleeve khaki shirt with plenty of ribbons pinned on the left side, is United Nations Space Marine General Victor Maistroff, the commander of the Robotech Expeditionary Forces Command, a unified combatant command that handles deep space exploration and combat. Sitting near the center is man with oliove-complected skin and a thick back moustache, wearing a white collared shirt with shoulderboards on the shoulders and many ribbons pinned to the chest; he is United Nations Ocean Patrol Admiral Bruno J. Calavicci, the Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces.

And sitting in the center of the conference table is a dark-haired man with a thin moustache. He wears a tan felt vest.

From pictures and news broadcasts that she had seen, Miriya recognizes him as Tokhtamysh Borjigin, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and her commander-in-chief.

"Your Excellency," says Miriya, "Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parina-Sterling, reporting as ordered, sir."

The Secretary General looks at her for a few seconds.

"Welcome, Commander Sterling," he says. "Please note that what you say in this booth stays here. Let us begin by you telling us what happened on that tiger cruise aboard the _Tokugawa_ ," he says.


	2. Chapter 2

"A tiger cruise?" asks United Nations Spacy Captain Lisa Hayes.

She is inside a large room. A bookcase is along the wall, and beyond the window is a clear view of the Caribbean Sea on Planet Earth, with palm trees swaying. Framed pictures of interstellar craft hang on the wall.

The centerpiece of the room is a wooden desk, varnished, with a glass overlay on the top. A man sits behind the desk in a leather seat. He has black hair. His eyes are slanted, and his skin has the complexion of amber. He is clad is Class "C's"- a short-sleeved white shirt with ribbons pinned on the left wide and shoulderboards.

The man is her superior, Vice Admiral Shin Lung, commander of the 2nd Space Fleet, operating under the Robotech Expeditionary Forces Command.

"That is correct, Hayes," replies the admiral. "A tiger cruise is a cruise where the families of the crew accompany them on a short trip."

"Like the SDF-1 campaign," replies Lisa. She touches the SDF-1 Campaign Ribbon pinned to her chest.

"Much shorter, only a week," says Shin. "And I made sure to have transports on standby to ferry the passengers home in case something goes wrong with the fold drives. We're not going to leave the friends and family of the crew stranded for a year.

"The CSO wants a public relations campaign. He and his advisors believe that a tiger cruise would give civilians a taste of what we go through when we explore deep space."

"The survivors of Macross City have had two years of personal experience," replies the captain.

"We're spreading our wings out there, finding new worlds. The CSO and the Commandant of the Space Marines both agree that the families of the crew should at least know how our crewmen and Marines deal with day-to-day life. You will have all the support you need from Spacy Headquarters. You have three days to formulate a preliminary draft, Captain Hayes."

Ooooooooo

"A tiger cruise?" asks Commander Aaron Liebowitz.

Captain Hayes looks at the tall man sitting across from her inside the conference room. He looks pretty much the same as she remembers for the past two years- a close-cropped dark beard, hook-like nose. The commander, like the other officers in the meeting, is clad in short-sleeve service khakis, a durable service uniform for everyday work aboard ship. Lisa notices the ribbons, which includes the SDF-1 campaign ribbon. Commander Leibowitz had been the XO of the U.E.S. _Tokugawa_ for two years.

"Yes, Commander," replies the captain. "We need to provide space and food for the guests."

"It will take some time , ma'am," says Liebowitz. "We will need to coordinate with Spacy headquarters."

"It should be doable," says the ship's quartermaster, a Spacy first lieutenant. "This ship is as big as the SDF-1 once was. The auxiliary berthing areas could accommodate a few extra hundred."

This does not surprise Lisa after a decade of service, with at least four years of deep space deployments. Deploying in deep space, the standard crew complement is always greater than the minimum needed to operate the ship, and the standard supply package and berthing space is greater than the number needed for the standard crew. There is no roadside assistance in unsettled space.

And so the officers of the _Tokugawa_ began logistical planning and coordination with headquarters, Military Spacelift Command, and Logistics Command. Planning and preparation takes weeks. The Spacy sent out invitations to the families of the crew and the Space Marine detachment.

And finally it is time. The _Tokugawa_ , fresh from a refurbishment at the U.N. Spacy's dry dock at the Robotech Factory Satellite, lands on Earth's Caribbean Sea, near the island of Barbados. Tender hover ferries from the U.N spacy base at Bridgetown ferry the officers, crew, and passengers to the robotech ship. Many of the passengers can see how large the ship is, over 3,700 feet in length, with a beam of over 1,400 feet. The brochure that they read informed them of the _Tokugawa's_ exploits over the past two years, including the discovery of Planet Glorie.

A davit is used to haul the tender boats up to one of the airlocks. The passengers all board.

Captain Hayes waits to greet three of the passengers just on the other side of the airlock. Two of them arwe in the short-sleeve Spacy white service uniform, appropriate for the weather in Barbados. One of them is a tall, dark-skinned man, appearing to be in his mid-twenties, with his shoulder boards identifying him as a second lieutenant. The other uniformed person is a dark-skinned woman, appearing in her early thirties, with shoulder boards identifying her as a first lieutenant, and devices identifying her as a medical officer in the Spacy Medical Corps.

"Second Lieutenant Vince Grant, requesting permission for the three of us to come aboard, ma'am" says the man.

"Permission granted," replies the captain. "And how is Bowie?"

The medical officer holds a dark-skinned boy, clad in a T-shirt and denim shorts. The boy appears to be under 3 years old.

"This is Lisa, the captain of the ship," says Lieutenant Jean Grant, MD.

"Bowie's certainly grown since the last time I've seen him."

"It's just that you've been on duty since he was born," replies the doctor.

"And has Bowie been a good boy?" asks Lisa.

"Well as good as any boy just shy of his third birthday. Making messes, not wanting to pick up after himself, that sort of thing. And he certainly can say the word no very well."

"From what I have heard from the sergeants, the crewmen sometimes act like that."

"And has Vince been a good boy while on board your ship?" asks Jean, inciting Vince's eyes to wooden.

"A good boy?" asks Lisa.

"Well, you've known him longer than I have. You've known him since before his tes-" the doctor catches herself "-I mean, before his voice cracked."

"You're right about that," replies the captain. She remembers first meeting Vince Grant almost a decade ago, back when he was a boy turning into a man. He had been the legal ward of his older sister at the time.

"Shalom!" yells a voice.

Lisa and the Grants look towards the airlock. They see a man with plenty of gray in his black hair. He wears a white shirt, black hair, and black pants. Eyeglasses rests on his hook-like nose. He wears a black hat on his head. With him are a boy and a girl, a little older than Bowie.

"Dad," says Commander Aaron Leibowitz, hugging the man. The commander looks at his children. "are you going to be good?"

"We will, Daddy."

"If they behave better than you did, Aaron," says the commander's father, "the captain and her crew should be able to handle it."

"Welcome aboard, sir," says Lisa.

"I'm Malachi Leibowitz, Aaron's father," says the man. "I am honored to be aboard your ship, Captain. I definitely want to find out how my boy is doing."

"We are giving tours of the ship to the passengers," says Commander Leibowitz. "Being the XO, you won't be able to see me in action. But I am responsible for everything on this ship. It's part of being an XO."

"Mom! Dad!" asks a female voice.

"Shannon," a couple in their fifties reply. They go to greet their daughter, a blond-haired, fair-skinned woman in her mid-twenties, also clad in the white Class "C" service uniform.

Vince looks at them. He had known First Lieutenant Shannon Cole since his days as a student in Macross High School over six years before. After graduation, Shannon decided to enlist in the United Nations Spacy. She became a veritech fighter pilot, flying a VF-1A Valkyrie with Skull Squadron in several battles, including the Second Battle of Macross City and the Battle Over Earth.

"So this is what you do in your off time," replies Mrs. Cole.

"Flying in those transforming planes," says Mr. Cole.

"You should be able to see them in action," says Shannon. "An air show will be planned during the cruise."

"Vince," says Mr. Cole. "It's been years. We haven't seen you since your wedding."

"Hi, Mr. Cole," says Lieutenant Vince Grant. "I'm glad you're doing well."

"Shannon told us that you had a baby boy," says Mrs. Cole.

"He's almost three," replies Vince.

"Must be causing you a lot of trouble," says Mr. Cole. "Like Shannon did."

"Dad!" exclaims Shannon.

"Oh, honey," says Mrs. Cole. She and her husband speak with Jean and say hello to young Bowie.

"When are you going to have kids of your own?" asks Mr. Cole.

"Oh, Dad, says Shannon. "I..I haven't you know.. met anyone suitable yet."

"But Vince met someone," says Mrs. Cole.

"And I am sure you know the story of how Vince and I met," says Jean. "That method is … rather risky."

The Coles all understand. They recall how a splinter conflict from the Global Civil War made its way on board of the SDF-1 _Macross_ ….

"Okay, Shannon," says Vince, "how would you like a picture with little Bowie here?"

"Sure," replies the veritech pilot.

Jean lifts her son up and hands him to Shannon. Bowie starts crying.

"Go ahead," says jean, "you can take a picture."

And so Mr. Cole takes a few pictures with a Samsung smart phone. Shannon then puts the boy down.

"Oh, how cute!" exclaims Mrs. Cole, looking at the phone's screen.

"We got to get some prints of this," says Mr. Cole.

"And send copies to Vince and Jean as well."

oooooooooo

"VF Three Niner Five to Air Boss," says the pilot. "Requesting permission to land."

"You are clear," says the _Tokugawa's_ air boss.

The VF-4 Lightning veritech fighter lands in the landing bay, its landing gears extended. The landing is arrested by powerful arresting cables. The ground crew, clad in blue overalls over their bodies and white helmets over their heads, follow standard procedure in the landing of an aircraft.

The pilot alights from the veritech with a small passenger. The ground crew all salute, as the pilot has a higher rank.

A man approaches the pilot and the little passenger. He is clad in the class "C" summer uniform. The three one-inch stripes on his shoulder boards identify him as a commander. The ribbons on his uniform include the SDF-1 Campaign Ribbon, the Second Battle of Macross City Ribbon, the Battle Over Earth ribbon, the Third Battle of Macross City Ribbon, the Titanium Medal of Valor, the Spacy Cross…

"Max," says the pilot.

"Miriya, Dana," Commander Maximilian Sterling says to his wife and daughter, hugging them.

"We go space, Daddy?" asks Dana.

"Yes, we will, darling," replies her father.

Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parino-Sterling removes her helmet, revealing a head with green hair flowing from her scalp, and looks at her husband. While he still has that blue hair and spectacles over his face, he has matured over the past five years, due both to becoming the commander of Skull Squadron as well as a father of a little girl.

"Us in deep space, Max," says Miriya. "Like we were five years ago."

It was one of the strangest love stories. Max had defeated Miriya in battle thrice. Third time had been really the charm.

Ooooooooooo

"Attention!" snaps Chief Master Space Sergeant Kwame Mugabe, the senior enlistee in the ship's crew. "Captain Lisa Hayes shall now address you."

The briefing room of the _Tokugawa_ , normally only used by military personnel, is now packed with civilians clad in various types of clothes, all gusts of the officers, crew and Space Marines. The captain looks at the passengers.

"Welcome to the _Tokugawa_ ," says Hayes. "a battleship of the U.N. Spacy. Its mission is to explore deep space and find out what is out there. While on board, you will learn how our crew and Marines help this ship accomplish its mission.

"We will lift off from Earth and fold through hyperspace to System J-29. A scout ship had previously surveyed the system; it is uninhabited. External transit time to System J-29 should be sixteen hours. Once there, we will orbit the main star at about a distance of 100 million miles and we will proceed with our scheduled events. On the morning of the fourth day, we will fold back towards Earth orbit."

"Captain," asks an eight-year-old boy wearing jeans and a T-shirt, "are we going to visit that planet with the scalie people?"

"No, we are not heading there," replies the captain. "We will not be visiting the surface of any worlds. We will orbit some of the planets in System J-29."

"Will we fight aliens?"

"I hope not."

Ooooooooo

About an hour later, Captain Hayes walks onto the bridge of the _Tokugawa_. It looks like a typical ship's bridge, with uniformed officers and crewmen watching the readouts and indicators showing everything from engine temperature to hydraulic fluid pressure to external air pressure.

"Captain on the bridge," announces Commander Liebowitz, still clad in his white uniform.

"Status report," requests the captain.

"All systems are normal," says Lieutenant Vince Grant. "We are ready to lift off and await clearance from air traffic control." The lieutenant listens intently into the headset that he is wearing on his head. "We have clearance."

"Take us up," says Hayes.

"Aye aye, ma'am," replies Grant. He presses buttons and flips switches. The thrusters of the robotech battleship expel mass downwards, lifting the _Tokugawa_ upwards from the Caribbean Sea, while leaving behind ripples along the blue surface of the ocean. The starship rises through Earth's thinning atmosphere. Blue fades to black at the carrier leaves Earth's atmosphere.


	3. Chapter 3

"You like the view?" asks United Nations Space Marine Major Kevin Landry, looking a boy, about four feet tall, with brown hair.

"Yeah, Uncle Kevin," replies Mark Landry. The boy looks as the blue ball that is Earth appears to shrink. He glances at the other people here. He had heard this was an observation lounge, where the crew, Marines, and passengers can see out into space. The boy had also heard that in the lounge, all military personnel, like his uncle, had to wear hats.

"I liked how your nephew asked Captain Hayes those questions," says a red-haired woman, appearing to be in her late twenties, clad in a Class "C" Space Marine service uniform, consisting of short-sleeved olive green khaki shirt and khaki skirt. The ribbons on her chest tell a story, a story of the SDF-1 campaign, as well as battles like the First Battle of Macross City, the Battle of Mars Base Sara, the Battle of Ontario, the Battle over Earth…

"He's getting a lot more talkative, Katie," answers Kevin. "Certainly more so than when he was on the SDF-1."

Mark, along with his parents, had been visiting his uncle Kevin, then a Space Marine veritech pilot in Knight Squadron, the morning the SDF-1 _Macross_ was to lift off from Earth for its maiden voyage. But the Zentraedi attacked, and Mark and his parents ended up on board the SDF-1 for over two years. Of course, back then Mark had been too young to understand, being less than a year old when the SDF-1 Campaign started. Now he is eight years old, his mind developed enough to know that he is far from Earth, and would likely be away from the Sol system.

"And when is Mark going to meet his cousin?" asks First Lieutenant Kathleen Taney.

"In November," replies Kevin. "The wifey couldn't be here; this cruise is closed to pregnant women."

"Yeah. You know, Jenna's pregnant with her second child already. I just found out last week."

"That's awesome."

"That's why we go out here," says a black-haired man with slanted eyes, also clad in a Class "C" uniform. His rank insignia pinned to his collar identify him as a lieutenant colonel. Both Kevin and Katie recognize him as Akira Nomura, the commander of Knight Squadron. "We need to know what's out there, what threats there are to Earth."

Kevin sees his commanding officer hug two children, a boy and a girl, who appear to be maybe one or two years younger than Mark. Nomura then embraces a woman a dark-haired woman in her early thirtoes

"All passengers and crew, prepare for hyperspace fold," says a voice over the speaker.

"Here comes the fun part," says Chief Master Space Sergeant Kwame Mugabe.

Oooooooooo

"Calculations for hyperspace fold are complete," says Second Lieutenant Vince Grant, looking at the monitor screen in the bridge. "Coordinates confirmed for System Juliet Two Niner. Expected external transit time sixteen hours." Vince presses a button for the shipwide intercom. "All passengers and crew, prepare for hyperspace fold."

Captain Lisa Hayes takes a deep breath. "Do it," she says.

"Initiating hyperspace fold," says Grant, pressing buttons and flipping switches on the console." He starts counting down.

And them, all over the ship, images double and sounds echo.

"Is this this fold thing Aaron's been talking about?" asks Malachi Leibowitz, now clad in a black coat, holding his grandchildren, as space itself seems to split apart. Most of the passengers are unfamiliar with folds, only having experienced it at most once before in their lives.

And the, from their point of view, Earth disappears, as well as the stars behind it, replaced by a white sheet of light that seemed to be moving.

"Welcome to hyperspace," says Vince, speaking over the _Tokugawa's_ intercom. "We are now on our way to System J-29."

"So how is Bowie's first trip through hyperspace?" asks Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parino-Sterling.

"It was a little scary," replies First Lieutenant Jean Grant, M.D. , holding her two-year-old son, who is still crying, not knowing why he saw those double images. "There, Bowie, everything should be fine. It scared me the first time I went through." Dr. Grant briefly recalls her experience during the First Battle of Macross City. She had been a nurse then, assigned to the _Macross's_ Medical Corps detachment.

"Dana hasn't been though hyperspace for three years."

"I remember that story, how those Zentraedi guarding the satellite were completely creeped out."

Back on the bridge, Vince looks at the timer. "Defold in three, two one," says the lieutenant.

The moving sheet of light disappears, replaced by a field of stars against black.

Back on the bridge, Grant looks at the instruments. "we have confirmation of our position at System Juliet Two Niner," he says.

"Shall we continue the tour?" Chief Master Space Sergeant Mugabe asks the passengers.

Oooooooooo

"Are you all ready to know how the ship works?" asks Lieutenant Commander Derek Lorne, Ph.D., the chief engineering officer of the battlefortress, in a tone of voice similar to a carnival showman.

The passengers nod. They all look at the man, who appears to be in his early thirties, with close-cropped brown hair. He is clad in what is known in the Spacy as the work uniform, which consists of overalls, with a nametag sewn on the left side, and the emblem of the Tokugawa sewn on the left shoulder.

Commander Lorne leads the guests through the corridors of the engineering module of the Robotech ship. He stops at a window.

"This is the main air processing plant," says Lorne. "as you can all feel by breathing, air is the most important thing. Without oxygen, we would all suffocate."

The passengers looks through the window, seeing a complex of pipes connected to large boxy devices. Crewmen in blue overalls look at the equipment.

"Those boxy devices are called artificial chloroplasts," says the commander. "Basically, it works like plants- water and carbon dioxide are combined to make oxygen. Sugar is actually a byproduct."

Lorne leads the guests to this room with control panels with switches and levers and gauges and monitor screens, all overseen by technicians in work uniforms. "And here we have our control room, where our techies make sure that we can breathe."

The commander then leads the guests through some corridors and into another control room, overlooking a much larger room with pipes and tanks with blue-clad workers checking dials and instruments.

"Here is our water treatment system," says Lorne. "You see, clean water is one of the essential ingredients for any deep space vessel. After all, without clean water, the crew gets sick, and the ship becomes shorthanded. So to treat water, we emulate the water cycle on Earth. Sewage, or what we in the Spacy call black water, is pumped into these tanks, which we call sedimentation tanks. The heavy solids settle to the bottom, while the light solids float to the top. The water then flows to a secondary storage tank, where microorganisms digest the soluble biological wastes."

The audience actually enjoys the doctor's presentation, due in no small part top Lorne using his arms and hands as well as his mouth to talk.

"When do we get to see the veritechs fly?" asks Mark, eager to get to what he considers the highlight of the cruise.

"Well, kid, that's scheduled for tomorrow," replies Dr. Lorne. He continues to explain how the gray water, which is the water post-secondary treatment, is used for things like laundry and showers and heads and the artificial chloroplasts in the air recycling systems, as well as how technicians take samples and bring it to the lab for testing.

"And this is where white water- the water that comes out of the taps in the galleys and break rooms- comes from," says Lorne. "The gray water flows into evaporation reservoirs, where some of the waste heat from the ship's reactors heats the water and turns into steam. The steam travels through pipes and goes to a condenser, where it is cooled by coolant systems. The final product is water at thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit."

"Very interesting," says Malachi Leibowitz. "And this was based upon the reconstruction of Macross City on SDF-1, right?"

"Right," replies Dr. Lorne. He briefly recalls his first deep space deployment on board the SDF-1 _Macross_ as an entry-level engineering officer. A space fold to get away from an alien attack left the ship in orbit near Pluto, dragging the ruins of Macross City with it. He recalls the double shifts he worked building utility systems like power and sanitation to support a population of seventy thousand people. His experience certainly taught him many things, and certainly helped him when he was part of the crew that built the _Tokugawa_. The _Tokugawa_ itself had capacity for 100,000 people in really tight quarters. "We definitely had a steep learning curve back then, especially as we had to reconstruct the city multiple times."

The engineering officer leads the guests along the corridors, passing the officers and crewmen under his command who keep the battlefortress running. He points out details in a chipper, excited tone. They stop by the window.

"That, my esteemed guests, is the artificial gravity control chamber," says the commander. The passengers look through the window. They see a central chamber with all sorts of equipment. A crewman wearing a hard hat in addition to blue overalls walks around the chamber. "Want to see a trick, ladies and gentlemen?"

"Yeah," say many of the children among the group.

Lorne picks up a handset attached to a wall and presses a few buttons on the numeric keypad. "This is Lorne," says the engineering officer. "Our guests are here. Can we do our little demonstration?"

The crewman inside the chamber waves at the commander and the ship's guests. He jumps up, flips around, and then lands on the ceiling, standing upside down.

"That chamber is what we call the sweet spot," says Commander Lorne. "In the center of the chamber, gravity is cancelled out.." The commander goes on to explain how the simulated gravity systems work, talking about how fields are used to generate a directional force, about the experimentation done on the _Macross,_ how the old ARMD platforms did not have these systems. And his audience listens carefully, even Mark Landry, who had come here just to see the veritechs fly and the big guns blast things.

 _This guy could definitely make a great elementary school science teacher,_ thinks Dr. Jean Grant.

"Okay, ladies and gents," says the chief engineer. "Now let me lead you to the place, lead you to the power source behind what I had showed you, what makes it all work."

The passengers follow the commander through some more corridors, passing by crewmen walking to their duties. Dr. Lorne stops them right by a huge window. On the other side of a window are three cylindrical structures about as tall as skyscrapers, with pipes connecting to them. People clad head-to-toe in thick outfits walk along catwalks between the huge structures and the balcony surrounding the other room.

"That, over there, are the reflex furnaces," says Dr. Lorne, "the main power source for this ship. It runs on a fuel source called protoculture. The reflex furnaces generate electricity which powers the ship's system- the lights, the ion drive, the hyperspace fold drive.."

"Excuse me, sir," says Mark, "but where does protoculture come from?"

"We don't know," answers the commander. "We know that the Robotech Masters knew how to refine it; we are still looking for the answer."

"So you have your ships run on something you can't make," observes Malachi. "why not run the ship on that hydrogen stuff? I heard the whole Universe is mostly hydrogen."

The chief engineer looks at the bearded man, and glances at the two little children with him. "Well, sir, it's like this. We can get a lot more energy from the same volume of protoculture than the same volume of hydrogen. In other words, if we had hydrogen fusion as the only source of power, this ship would basically be a giant fusion reactor and fold drive, with only a few tiny modules attached for the crew."

"I see," replies Malachi.

Oooooooooo

"And here is the officers' mess," says Chief Master Space Sergeant Kwame Mugabe. "This is where you have dinner."

"We haven't had lunch yet," says Mark.

"Well, young one, in the military, we have breakfast, dinner, and supper. Anyway, as the name states, this is where the officers eat. Those of us who are enlisted only come here on official business, like when giving passengers a tour, maintaining the equipment, or mopping the floor."

The passengers look at the officers' mess. It is a large, cafeteria-like room with long tables and benches. Recruitment posters hang on the wall. There is a beverage fountain in the back. Some of the guests see a young man in a blue outfit moving a mop along the floor of the mess, the mopped sections emitting a faint piney scent.

"Chief," the man says. "I'm almost done mopping up."

"Very good, Milliome," replies the chief master space sergeant.

"Careful everyone," says Crewman Daniel Milliome. "The floor is wet."

And so the passengers sit in the officers' mess. Stewards provide various types of meals. Petite Cola, fruit juices, and plain old drinking water are the beverages.

"I wonder where Uncle Kevin is," says Mark, eating a Philly cheese steak sandwich, enjoying the taste of the thinly sliced steak, melted provolone cheese, grilled onions, and sautéed mushrooms.

"He's a squadron XO, so he's doing XO stuff," replies Katie, twisting marinara-coated linguini noodles with her fork.

"XO stuff?"

"You know, helping the squadron CO, Colonel Nomura, out with making sure our squadron is ready to deploy, keeping the planes in shape, setting up training schedules for us pilots. Your Uncle Kevin asked me to babysit you and your dad during dinner."

"When do we see the veritechs fly? And what was all that boring stuff about?"

"Come on, Mark," says his father. "Dr. Lorne was actually pretty entertaining."

"I guess so," replies Mark. "But still.."

"Without that boring stuff," says Katie, "we can't fly our veritechs. We need all that boring stuff for repairs, refueling, training."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," says Mark.

Not far from where Mark Landry is eating, Bowie Grant runs around, with his mother trying to keep up. Dana Sterling soon joins him.

Bowie then runs into Malachi Leibowitz. He looks at Lieutenant Jean Grant and Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parina-Sterling.

"You must not be used to children running around where the officers eat," says Malachi. "I remember when by boy Aaron ran around like that."

"The stewards certainly aren't used to this," says Miriya, looking at some of the other stewards trying to keep order in an officers' mess that now has young children.

"I have to admit, the food is great. I'm glad they are feeding this to my boy Aaron."

"Who?" asks a steward clad in a blue outfit.

"Commander Aaron Leibowitz."

"Oh, our XO. I'm glad our galley staff has your approval, sir."

"I must thank them. You know, there is this deli called Schulsky's in Brooklyn. The best food anywhere in this galaxy. Certainly better than that overpriced stuff they sell at that Zentraedi spaceship in Queens. I always walk there to eat lunch at least three times a week. Maybe your cooking staff can get jobs there after their tour of duty is up. The chef at Schulsky's can teach them a few tricks."

Oooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the conference room, United Nations Space Marine Colonel Amir Santoso meets with Captain Lisa Hayes and the others in the _Tokugawa's_ senior staff.

"Colonel," says the captain, "we are going to want to show our guests a landing. Not the ship itself. But a team of Space Marines on one of the bodies of this system. The survey last year showed the existence of terrestrial moons orbiting the third planet."

"Reports show that the dropship is in working order and we have a team of destroids in case of contingencies," replies the colonel. "I can create a preliminary draft plan, subject to revisions once we scan our destination."

Santoso does not hide the feeling of excitement, another landing, another astronomical body to rest his feet.

Or at least the feet of his destroid.

Oooooooooo

The passengers are berthed in the auxiliary berthing area. The place has cots bolted into the floor, like all furniture on the ship. Several cribs have been bolted as well, for the little children.

It is lights out for the passengers as well as the crew, save those assigned to the graveyard shift. There were some more tours, such as viewing the hyperspace fold drives, large, cylindrical structures that fold spacetime and allow humanity to leave the confines of the Sol system within hours., and Dr. Derek Lorne explaining the workings of the fold drive in a most entertaining way. The passengers also visited the ship's library- a large, three-deck structure with all sorts of books, saw a film called _Kung Fu Dandy_ , at the movie theater, played various games in one of the officers' recreational lounges. Some of the passengers even got a workout at the officers' gymnasium which had all sorts of exercise equipment like treadmills and weight-lifting machines.

"His first night in deep space," says Dr. Jean Grant, looking at Bowie.

"He's definitely going to enjoy looking at the pictures when he is older," says Lieutenant Vince Grant. He turns and sees Commander Max Sterling.

"Commander Sterling," says Vince. "I'm surprised you're here, sir. I thought you and Mrs. Sterling and your girl would just sleep in your stateroom."

"We figured we'd stay with the passengers here," replies the commander. "Might as well spend some time with our guests."

"Wait," says Mark Landry, "you're one of those veritech pilots, right?"

"That's right," replies Max. "Skull Leader. "

"How many planes did you shoot down?" asks the boy, making a pointed finger gesture and a ratatatat sound.

"I lost count at over a hundred."

"Cool!"

"Uh, not really."

"This little tyke must be quite a handful," says Lieutenant Shannon Cole, who had been visiting the auxiliary berthing area to see her parents. She looks towards, Vince. "If you think your boy is terrible at two, just wait until he grows up to be this boy's age."

"Sure thing, Shannon," replies Vince.

"Excuse me," Mrs. Cole says to Max.

"Yes?" asks Skull Leader. He looks at the woman, who has blond hair flowing from her head, appearing to be in her fifties, and clad in a green dress. _That must be Lieutenant Cole's mother._

"Do you have a brother?" she asks.

"Uh, no, but thanks for asking anyway." Max has a puzzled look on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

A blue planet orbits the star in a solar system called J-29 by United Nations astronomers. Around this planet, three moons orbit. The space battleship U.E.S. _Tokugawa_ approaches the planet on a ballistic course. The bridge crew pays attention to their instruments, gauges, and monitors.

"We are now orbiting the third planet," says Crewman First Class Sam Laird.

"Let's see it on the main monitor," says Commander Aaron Leibowitz, clad in his service khakis.

"It looks like Earth," says Lieutenant Vince Grant, looking at the main monitor screen.

Indeed, the planet is blue, with white streaks.

This is also noticed by the passengers of the tiger cruise, who watch from the observation lounge.

"Preliminary scans show the planet to be 80,000 miles wide," says Crewman First Class Ken Kabirov, sitting at one of the monitor stations on the bridge. "The spectral lines indicate that the planet's outer atmosphere is 75% hydrogen."

The crewman's report belies any idea that humanity could settle on the surface of that planet.

"Lieutenant Grant, inform Captain Hayes we are in orbit over the planet," says Leibowitz.

"Aye aye, sir," replies Grant.

Ooooooo

Mark Landry is excited.

He had been told that his Uncle Kevin had once brought him to the hangar deck of the SDF-1 Macross to see the VF-1 Valkyries that had been at use at the time; he had even seen pictures. But he was just too young to remember.

Now he, along with almost all of the passengers, are inside the hangar deck of the Tokugawa, to see what he had always wanted to see, the VF-4 veritech fighters. Over a dozen of them are lined up inside a huge chamber. Blue-clad technicians work on one of the planes. A faint scent of lubricant and aviation fuel permeates the chamber.

The boy sees a man, who appears to be a bit younger than his Uncle Kevin, clad in a khaki outfit like many of the officers on the ship. Plenty of colored ribbons are pinned to his uniform, all telling a story of campaigns, battles, injuries, and even a brief time as a prisoner of war.

"And this is our VF-4 Lightning veritech fighter," says U.N. Spacy Captain Rick Hunter, the CAG of the _Tokugawa_. "We presently have two veritech squadrons on this ship, along with ten other squadrons including fighters and transports. Right now, as you might have guessed, this baby here is in fighter mode." Hunter taps the nose landing gear.

Mark looks at the plane. It looks just like it does in the pictures he had seen- a conic nose where the cockpit is, and two wings extending from the port and starboard sides of the cigar-shaped fuselage. There is no tail assembly, instead, the triangle-shaped stabilizer units are located on the top of each wing. Unlike some pictures he had seen of veritechs, there are black pods are attached to the top and underside of the aircraft. The plane rests on the ground on three landing gears.

"This baby has three purposes," says the CAG. "It serves as a fighter-interceptor in space and in atmosphere, close air support for surface ops, and to hold ground on the surface. The Lightning has Vernier thrusters to allow the plane to change course in the absence of an atmosphere."

"Must be a lot more expensive than a regular fighter," says Malachi Leibowitz, adjusting his eyeglasses at the sight.

"Well, sir, it is," says Hunter. "And we have a crew of skilled technicians to make sure each and every one of these planes are in tip-top shape. Now, these pods attached to the craft are FAST packs; we install them whenever we deploy into deep space, as we are doing now."

"So we are going to take off now, Captain Hunter?" asks Mark.

"Not yet," replies the captain. "We're actually sending two Lightnings to escort a re-entry pod to one of the moons around this planet later today. But there is something else we can show you."

He leads the passengers out of the hangar, through some corridors, and into a large room. The room has several huge gray pods, with cables running between them and a row of rectangular structures against wall.

"Captain Hunter," says a technician, standing at attention.

"As you were, Corporal," replies the CAG. "I'm here to show our guests the simulators." He turns towards the guests. "Now, these are our simulators for the Lightnings. Our pilots practice in them." He looks at Mark Landry. "Would you like a try?"

"Of course, Captain," answers Mark, his voice beaming in excitement.

The technician opens up one of the pods. Mark sees a huge chair inside and immediately jumps in. He looks in front and sees a joystick as well as gauges, instruments, and screens. Top his left is a lever.

"Okay, kid," says the technician. "We'll run a basic training program."

"I played video games before," answers Mark.

"You'll find out the truth."

The canopy closes, and an image of a sky appears. White whisps of clouds float by. The ground shows an urban landscape.

"Wow, this is way cooler than those arcade games in the rec room," the boy says. He even sees the mist of clouds.

"Okay," says Captain Hunter. "Your mission is to fly out to repel an enemy attack on the city below."

"You are cleared for takeoff," Mark hears.

"All right," he says. He pushes the throttle forward and pulls the stick back, taking off. He can see two other Lightnings. He looks at the instrumentation and movies the stick.

Then he sees a volley of missile sheading towards him. The screen goes blank. Then a message appears.

 **MISSION FAILED**

The simulator's canopy opens, and the boy steps out. The other guests look at him. Mark looks at a wall-mounted screen which indicates he had only lasted seven seconds.

"I like motorcycles anyway," says Mark.

"Well, kid," says Hunter, "it takes a lot of practice. I was shot down my first time too."

Oooooooooo

"Dr. Grant, how are you doing?" asks a dark-haired, big-nosed man in a white coat.

"Dr. Ajani,"' replies Dr. Jean Grant, "my career is great; I've putting in long hours whenever Vince is home. How are you doing?"

She looks at Dr. Mansour Ajani, the chief medical officer of the _Tokugawa_. He had been a doctor on board the SDF-1 _Macross_ , back when she was a nurse. He is a man of medium height and build, appearing to be in his mid-thirties, and the collar insignia on the service khakis under his coat indicate that he is a commander in the Spacy Medical Corps.

The tour group had arrived in the main sick bay a few minutes ago. The sick bay is more like a hospital, with rooms on three decks. One of Ajani's corpsmen give the group a tour though the facility, showing them the patient examination rooms. Some of the gusts have blood pressure and weight examinations as a demonstration.

"Great," replies Ajani. "I have gotten to know the officers and crew. And I can assure you that your husband has a clean bill of health. And that is your boy, right?"

"Yes," replies Jean, holding Bowie. "He has gotten so big since he was born. It is hard to imagine, and I'm a doctor!"

Jean briefly reflects on her career. She had been a nurse in the Spacy Nurse Corps. After the First Robotech War, she had applied for medical school, to be paid by the U.N. Spacy in exchange for ten years of active duty service in the Spacy Medical Corps. She had relied mostly on her husband Vince and others in her close-knit community at the Spacy hospital to help care for her son.

"How about we measure his height?" asks the chief medical officer. Jean has Bowie stand besides a ruler painted on the wall, trying to keep him still. "He's certainly growing on schedule."

Jean and Bowie look at Dr. Ajani greets his wife and children.

oooooooo

"These are our destroids," says Colonel Amir Santoso, walking along the destroid hangar.

The passengers look up at the destroids. They all look like giant suits of armors, most of them having cannons for arms. Space Marine technicians, clad in olive-green overalls, work on one of them. "These are our Tomahawks, useful in all sorts of ground combat situations. And here is our big baby, the HWR-00 Destroid Monster.

The passengers look at this large machine, over six stories tall, with two legs, two arm cannons , and three cannons mounted on the head, no doubt explaining the origin of the mecha's name. "The Monster was designed to deliver heavy firepower in any battlefield."

"So how does it get out of the ship?" asks Malachi Leibowitz.

"I'm glad you asked, sir," says the colonel, "because that is what I plan to show you next."

Santoso leads the passengers to a large door, as tall as a seven story building.

"Is the interior pressurized?" the colonel asks a Space Marine corporal standing guard.

The corporal looks at gauges. "Yes, sir."

"Then open the door."

"Aye aye, sir."

The corporal presses a button, and electric motors whine as the door slides open. The passengers see a huge cylindrical spacecraft, as tall as a ten-story building, like the flying saucers of legend.

"This is a Frandlar Tiluvo dropship," says the commander of the Space Marine detachment. "We use this to transport troops and supplies to a planetary body, as we will do later today. The lower part contains the cargo hold where the destroids are transported, and the crew cabin is in the upper part."

Ooooooo

"Why, here is daddy at work," says Jean Grant.

Lieutenant Vince Grant turns around and sees his wife and son, along with the other guests of the tiger cruise. "Enjoying the tour, little man?" he asks Bowie. The lieutenant looks at the other passengers. "ah, well, welcome to the bridge. This is the nerve center of our ship. Now, here, where I work, is the conn. I direct the ship's movements. These other stations here allow us to read information from our sensors, like temperature and pressure and tidal forces and our relative position in the galaxy." Vince points towards the bow. "that is the main bridge monitor,. We don't have windows looking out. That is our forward view. Now, Crewman Milliome, if you can show the moon."

"Yes, sir," replies Crewman First Class Dan Milliome.

An image of a moon appears. It looks like a spherical mass of barren white rock, pockmarked with craters.

"That is our portside view," says Lieutenant Grant. "We are orbiting the third moon of the third planet of this system."

"Aaron," says Malachi Leibowitz.

"Hi, Dad," says Commander Leibowitz. "How are the kids?"

"Daddy?" says the girl, who runs towards the bridge, followed by her little brother. They start running around.

"Hey!" barks the commander. "This isn't a playpen."

The girl runs right into Crewman Milliome just as he stands up.

"Listen to your daddy," says Milliome. "There are other places to play, but not here. It's not safe here."

The girl runs back to her grandfather, as does the boy. Bowie suddenly pulls away from his mother's grasp, joining the Leibowitz children.

"Thanks, Milliome," says Commander Leibowitz.

"When are you going to have kids, Danny?" asks a blond-hairedwoman, clad in a green dress, who appears to be in her mid-forties. "I'm suire there's a cute girl on this ship…"

"Uh, I have important work to do, Ma," replies Dan Milliome, sitting down at his console.

Oooooooo

"How are things going?" asks Captain Lisa Hayes as she enters the bridge of the _Tokugawa_.

"Everything's going fine, Captain," replies Commander Leibowitz. "Colonel Santoso and his team are getting ready for their visit to that moon."

"Santa's Sleigh to _Tokugawa_ control," says Space Marine First Lieutenant Kimri Fadora. "Our systems are ready to go."

"Copy, Santa's Sleigh," replies Lieutenant Grant. "Knight Leader, Knight Three, are you ready?"

"We're ready for takeoff," says Lieutenant Colonel Akira Nomura.

"Ready," says Lieutenant Kathleen Taney.

"Okay," says Grant, "Knight Leader and Knight Three, move out."

Inside his VF-4 Lightning, Nomura checks his instruments and gauges. He pushes the throttle forwards, and his veritech leaves the Tokugawa's flight deck and into space. Taney follows him shortly.

Meanwhile, the hatch above the Frandlar Tiluvo dropship opens up. Lieutenant Fadora checks all the instruments, and the dropship's crew gives a thumbs up to the pilot.

"Hatch is open, Santa's Sleigh," says Lieutenant Grant. "You are clear to go."

The dropship rises from its hangar deck and emerges through the hatch into open space. The thrusters of the dropship accelerate it towards the veritech.

"The dropship and the two veritechs are flying in formation towards the third moon," says Crewman Sam Laird.

The image of the dropship and the two veritechs appear on the bridge's main monitor as they proceed to another new world.


	5. Chapter 5

Three moons orbit a blue gas giant in System J-29. A Frandlar Tiluvo dropship, escorted by two Stonewell Bellcom VF-4 Lightning veritech fighters, approach the third moon, as the passengers of the UE.S. _Tokugawa's_ tiger cruise watch from the observation lounge.

"This is Knight Leader," says Lieutenant Colonel Akira Nomura. "we are on an approach to the LZ. We are switching to guardian mode." The squadron commander flips the lever marked "G" on the left side of the console. Legs and arms appear to emerge from the fuselage of the aircraft, and the engines located in the feet engage, allowing the veritech to hover. "We should arrive at the LZ in ten minutes."

Both the passengers in the observation lounge- listening via speakers- and the bridge detail of the battleship listen intently. Five minutes later, the veritech guardian lands on the moon, its feet touching the rocky surface. His wingman also lands. The components of the two veritechs shift again, and they now appear to be giant suits of armor.

"Knight Leader to Santa's Sleigh," says Nomura, holding the GU-11 gunpod with his veritech's hands, "we have secured the LZ. You may proceed."

"Copy," replies Lieutenant Kimri Fadora. He presses buttons and flips switches to ensure that the dropship lands on the moon. The landing legs extends, and the feet touch on the rocky surface. "Santa's Sleigh has touched down. I repeat, Santa's Sleigh has touched down."

"Acknowledged," says Lieutenant Vince Grant, standing at the conn on the bridge.

The ramp of the Frandlar Tiluvo opens up, and two MBR-04-MKVI Tomahawk Destroids emerge from the dropship. They are followed out by the HWR-00 Monster Destroid, it massive feet leaving deep footprints on the moon's surface.

"This is Santoso," says Colonel Amir Santoso, "I have stepped out onto the surface. We are stable."

"Copy, sir," replies Grant.

The Tomahawk kneels down, its cockpit opens up, and the colonel climbs down, clad in a space suit. He slips and falls.

"Colonel, are you all right?" asks the other destroid pilot.

Santoso stands up. "I'm fine, Sergeant Major. Gravity is much weaker than Earth; this moon is only a thousand miles wide." He jumps up, leaping much higher than he has ever jumped. "I wonder what it would be like to play basketball."

The colonel looks around. He can see barren rock below the horizon. Up above is the blackness of deep space, with points of light marking the location of stars- or at least where the stars were at the time the starlight was first emitted. Several nebulae can be seen. Up above, the _Tokugawa_ orbits the moon.

 _And the moon is orbiting the planet, which is obniting the star, which is orbiting the center of the galaxy._

The passengers who are in the observation lounges see this too, as a feed from Santoso's helmet camera is displayed on the color monitor screens.

"That's Daddy," Mrs. Santoso says, in Javanese, to the two young children that she had with Amir. "That's what he is seeing." The children watch. She briefly reflects on their life. They had gotten married in Indonesia about a week before he was to deploy with the Space Marine detachment on board the SDF-1 _Macross_. The alien attack led to her being on the ship with her husband, and she had given birth to their first child on board.

"This big hunk of rock has nothing," says the sergeant major. "Landing on Planet Glorie was a lot more interesting."

"Maybe so," replies the colonel, thinking about that survey mission two years before. "But it was also risky. When I took my first breath there, I did not know if there was any toxic gases that could have killed me in a few hours."

"Heads up, Colonel," says Lieutenant Grant. "We're detecting a bogey coming in from the other side of the planet."

"Copy," replies Santoso.

Back on the bridge, the crew discuss the mysterious signal that emerged from the other side of the planet.

"How did we not detect a bogey coming in from hyperspace?" asks Captain Lisa Hayes.

"Well, ma'am, I think the bogey defolded on the other side of the planet," says Crewman Ken Kabirov. "The planet must have shielded the gravitational waves from detection."

"I advise opening a channel and hailing them in the Zentraedi language," suggests Commander Aaron Leibowitz. It had been decided by Supreme Command that communications to any aliens encountered in space be made in the Zentraedi language, due to the fact that the Zentraedi had been the enforcers of the Robotech Masters and as thus spacefaring civilizations would know the language.

"Do it," Hayes says to the communication officer.

"Aye aye, ma'am," replies the communication officer, a third lieutenant in service khakis. He opens a channel.

"This is Captain Hayes of the United Earth Ship _Tokugawa_ ," says the captain. "we have no hostile intentions. Please identify yourself."

There is no response.

"Shall I put it on screen?" asks Kabirov.

"Yes, Crewman," replies Captain Hayes.

"Copy."

An image of a dark blue disk appears, nearly invisible.

"I repeat, this is Captain Hayes of the United Earth Ship _Tokugawa._ Identify yourself. We have no hostile intent."

"I've armed all weapons," says Lieutenant Grant.

"Order our first response Lightning flight to prepare for takeoff," says Hayes.

"Copy," says Grant. He presses a button. "Vermilion Flight, get into your fighters and prepare for takeoff."

"I repeat, this is Captain Hayes of the United Earth Ship _Tokugawa,_ " says the captain. _"_ Identify yourself. We have no hostile intent."

There is no response.

Normally, they would fold away back to the fallback point, especially as they have civilian guests on board. But Colonel Santoso and his away team are still on the surface of the moon.

"Colonel Santoso, this is the _Tokugawa_ ," says Captain Hayes. "We have a potential hostile approaching the ship. Withdraw and return to the ship."

"Yes, ma'am," replies Colonel Santoso. "All right, people. We may be in for a fight. We'd better return to the ship and await further orders."

"Captain, look," says Commander Leibowitz.

Hayes looks at the screen. The disk shape opens up, like a clam. Several smaller craft leap out.

"The smaller craft are on an intercept course," says Crewman Sam Laird.

"Mobilize the whole air group," says the captain. "Sound red alert! Call for backup!"

"Vermilion Flight, launch," says Lieutenant Grant. "All combat squadrons mobilize and take off."

" _Tristar_ and _Tiamat_ ," says the communications officer on the hyperspatial frequency. "We are under attack. We need you to fold to our system."

"Can't you fold back to our position?" asks an officer on the _Tristar_.

"Negative, we still need to recover our Marine away team.

The red alert sounds, and the crew all head to battle stations. The passengers are escorted by Spacy police to the berthing area.

"What's this about?" asks Commander Max Sterling as he runs towards the hangar area.

"We'll find out, Max," replies Captain Rick Hunter.

Meanwhile, on the flight deck, a VF-4 Lightning veritech fighter is fully powered up, ready for launch. First Lieutenant Shannon Cole, clad in a flight suit with a red trim and a skull-and-0crossbones emblem on the chest, checks her instruments. She gives a thumbs-up to the flight deck crewman standing near the fighter jet.

"This is Skull Squadron, Vermilion Flight captain, pilot Shannon Cole," she says. "Taking off."

She pushes the throttle forward, and the Lightning emerges from the flight deck. Three more fighters take off.

"Okay, Vermilion team," says Cole, "we're the first wave. We need to hold them off until the rest of the group can join us. Stay in formation."

"Copy," says Vermilion Two.

"Vermilion Flight, stay close to the ship so our guns can cover you," says Grant.

"Everyone lock a bandit, and open fire!"

The four Lightnings fire their missiles at the bandits.

"Scratch one," says Vermilion Leader, seeing one of the enemy craft explode in a fireball.

"There's more coming," says Vermilion Three.

Meanwhile, down at the moon, the Space Marines are preparing to leave. Colonel Santoso is being lifted by the hand of a Lightning battloid to help him into the cockpit of his Tomahawk.

"Thanks for the lift," says the colonel.

"You're welcome, sir," says First Lieutenant Kathleen Taney.

Santoso and his ground team all board the Frandlar Tiluvo dropship. The two veritech battloids transform to guardian and hover about fifty feet above the dropship.

"This is Santa's Sleigh," says First Lieutenant Kimri Fadora. "We are ready for takeoff."

"Negative," says Lieutenant Grant, "we need to mobilize our full air group to cover your retreat to the ship."

"Copy," replies Fadora.

Lieutenant Cole hears that other teams have launched.

"I can't shake this guy," says Vermilion Two.

"I see him," replies Cole. She presses the trigger and destroys the enemy with her GU-11 gunpod.

She then sees an enemy craft on a collision course with her Lightning. It raises a clawed arm at her, as if it wanted to fight melee. She pushes the control stick to starboard.

The clawed arm strikes a direct hit at the cockpit, utterly smashing it. The enemy makes a few more melee strikes.

And then her VF-4 Lightning is consumed in a ball of hot plasma.

"Vermilion Leader's down!" yells Vermilion Two. "I repeat, Vermilion Leader's gone!"

"Shannon," whispers Second Lieutenant Vince Grant, bowing his head in shock.


	6. Chapter 6

_Here we go again._

Captain Rick Hunter sits inside the cockpit of his VF-4 Lightning veritech fighter. Glancing at his instruments to make sure there are no serious problems, he looks ahead. He gives a thumbs up to the crewman standing on the flight deck to his port side. He pushes the throttle forward, and takes off. The Lightning emerges into deep space.

"This is Big Leader, taking off," says Captain Hunter. He checks his radar. "I'm approaching the bandits. Knight Squadron, are you in a position to cover Santa's Sleigh?"

"I can see the rest of Knight Squadron approaching our position," says Lieutenant Colonel Akira Nomura. "Santoso and his landing team are inside the dropship."

"Copy," replies Hunter. "Skull Squadron will keep the bandits busy. Knight Squadron will focus on protecting Santa's Sleigh.

"Copy, Big Leader," says Commander Max Sterling. "Skull Squadron, let's dance with these bandits. You too, VF Three Niner Five."

"Copy," replies his wife, Lieutenant Commander Miriya Sterling, flying in her red VF-4.

"Just remember you don't have any FAST packs," says her husband.

"I copy."

"The _Tristar_ and the _Tiamat_ have just arrived," says Lieutenant Vince Grant. "They will provide cover fire."

"Copy," replies Captain Hunter.

Skull Squadron engages the bandits. Miriya sees Rick and Max take three of them down.

She sees one of them approaching here at twelve o' clock. Instinctively, the pilot pulls the trigger on her control stick, blowing apart the enemy craft.

Just before it was destroyed, the shape of the craft triggers something in her memory. The single sensor eye, the wide body, the four limbs ending in claws.

"That's the Invid," Miriya says softly, with memories of an enemy she had not fought in over a decade surface.

"The what?" asks Max.

"The Invid."

Ooooooooo

"Okay, Knight Squadron," says Colonel Nomura, "you heard Big Leader. We let the space squids play tag while we protect Santa's Sleigh. Don't let anything through."

"Copy," replies Major Kevin Landry.

"Santa's Sleigh to Tokugawa control," says Lieutenant Kimri Fadora, the pilot of the Frandlar Tiluvo dropship. "We are taking off."

The Frandlar Tiluvo's thrusters expel reaction mass downwards towards the surface of the moon, lifting up the dropship. Lieutenant Fadora pushes the throttle and moves the stick, which sets the dropship on course with the battleship.

"We're moving towards you," says Lieutenant Vince Grant.

"I'm detecting two more defolds," says Crewman Ken Kabirov. "They might be the enemy."

"More guests," says Commander Aaron Leibowitz.

"Bridge to gunnery crews," says Captain Lisa Hayes. "Lay down suppression fire to clear a path for Santa's Sleigh."

"Copy," says a sergeant in charge of the gunners. The gunners, all wearing black helmets over their heads, look at the screens of the guns' control panels and pull the triggers on the joysticks.

The _Tokugawa_ fires laser and particle beams in a protective cone around the path of Santa's Sleigh. Some of the Invid fighters notice the dropship and move in to intercept. A few are destroyed by the battleship's guns. Others are destroyed by missiles fired from the FAST packs of Knight Squadron's veritechs.

"Some of them are breaking through," says Knight Leader. The Invid fighters fire plasma beams at the Frandlar Tiluvo dropship.

"We're taking fire," says Fadora.

"Our thruster's been hit," says a sergeant who is part of the dropship's flight crew.

Colonel Nomura notices an enemy fighter heading towards the dropship.

"Oh no you don't," he says. He flies in to intercept.

And his Lightning is destroyed, exploding in a fireball scattering veritech parts.

"Knight Leader!" yells Lieutenant Kathleen Taney. She quickly movies in and destroyed the enemy fighter that had just killed her squadron leader. "Knight Leader's down."

Ooo

"How many of them are there?" asks Commander Sterling.

"We're going to have to keep them busy until Santa's Sleigh is safe and sound," says Captain Hunter.

The two of them see the clam-shaped ship that serves as a carrier to the Invid fighters. It is moving towards the _Tokugawa_.

But the ship's guns were focused on providing a protective screen around the path of the Frandlar Tiluvo, a screen that even a few enemy fighters had been able to penetrate. And the battle cruisers _Tristar_ and _Tiamat_ were handling the other two enemy carriers, keeping them and their fighters busy

"I have an idea," says Miriya Sterling. "I fought these Invid before. I can destroy this carrier."

"Miriya," says Captain Hayes. She is aware of the enemy carrier approaching the battleship, but she dared not divert some of the guns away from protecting the dropship. "Do it."

"We'll cover for you," says Hunter. "Big Leader to Knight Leader, our guest is going to attack the carrier and Skull Leader and I will cover for her."

"Knight Leader is down," says Major Landry.

"Well, I guess you're Knight Leader now."

Miruya flies in fast towards the carrier, firing her Lightning's missiles. Two Invid fighters fly to follow her, but they are destroyed by Rick and Max. She flips the switch marked "B" and the arms and legs fold out and the nose folds down, turning the Lightning into a battloid. The battloid lands right on top of the carrier and delivers plenty of cannon fire to the clam-shaped ship.

Miriya then pulls the "F" lever to go back into fighter mode and flies away. Her husband watches the explosions rocking the carrier, and the two halves split apart.

"They still make them like they used to," says Miriya, beaming with satisfaction at destroying one of the enemy carriers.

"We'd better mop up with these..Inbit?" asks Max.

The Frandlar Tiluvo is now right above the topside of the _Tokugawa_.

"This is Santa's Sleigh," says Lieutenant Fadora. "Thrusters are damaged."

"We'll help you," says Major Landry. He and Lieutenant Taney transform their fighters into battlouids and use their feet to help provide control for the dropship. The hatch for the dropship's hangar bay is open, and the two veritech pilots help the dropship into its chamber.

"Santa's Sleigh has returned," says Fadora. "We are in our hangar now."

"All right," says Captain Hayes. "We'd better get the fighters back onto the flight deck. We don't want to wait for enemy reinforcements."

"All fighters retreat to fall back," says Lieutenant Grant. "I repeat, all fighters retreat."

"The enemy is retreating, ma'am," says Crewman Dan Milliome. "what's left of their fighters is moving towards the last carrier, which is moving away from us and the cruisers."

"Big Leader has landed," says Hunter, as the landing gear tires of his veritech make contact with the flight deck.

"Calculations for hyperspace fold have been completed," says Lieutenant Grant.

"No sign of any enemy activity," says Crewman Sam Laird. "The last enemy carrier folded into hyperspace. All fighters have touched down on the flight deck."

"Let's not overstay our welcome here," says Captain Hayes. "Initiate hyperspace fold."

"Copy," says Grant, pressing a button.

The _Tokugawa_ folds into hyperspace on a course back to the Sol system.

Ooooooo

Lieutenant Vince Grant polishes the brass buttons on his dress whites, which is basically a crisp white tunic with brass buttons. His shoulder boards have one one-inch stripe and one half-inch stripe. A few medals are pinned to his chest.

He looks at Commander Max Sterling. The commander's outfit is similar to Grant's, except that the shoulder boards have three one-inch stripes, and there are many more medals pinned to the chest.

"Thanks, Lieutenant," says Sterling.

"I've known the Coles for over eight years," replies the lieutenant.

They walk along the corridors, passing officers and enlistees whose widen at the sight of formal dress uniforms. They enter the auxiliary berthing area where the tiger cruise's guests are staying.

"Vince," says Mrs. Cole. "Wait, why are you wearing that outfit?"

"I…," begins Commander Sterling, but he is unable to say it.

Grant only has a sad look on his face.

Mr. and Mrs. Cole stare for a few seconds.

And then it hits them like a crowbar to the head.

"Oh, God, no!" cries Mrs. Cole. Tears flow down her cheeks like a fountain. She collapses to her knees as grief consumes her. Her husband kneels down, and she hugs him.

Vince silently approaches them, putting his hand on Mrs. Cole's shoulder while bowing his head in memory of his fallen classmate, briefly recalling their high school days.

 _Your daughter died protecting us all,_ Max could not say.

At another auxiliary berthing area, a similar story is told. Colonel Amir Santoso and Major Kevin Landry stand in their Space Marine dress blues, their brass buttons and medals shining, giving the news to Mrs. Nomura. Mark Landry look at his uncle, and knows that flying veritechs is no game.

Mrs. Nomura does her best to stay strong for her children. She has to take care of them, she has to guide them now that their father will not be there to support them.

"Where's Daddy?" her daughter asks in the Japanese language.


	7. Chapter 7

"Lieutenant Colonel Akira Nomura, United Nations Space Marines. First Lieutenant Shannon Cole, United Nations Spacy," says Captain Lisa Hayes, standing in the observation lounge of the _Tokugawa_. "There is neither rhyme nor reason why they are no longer with us. All we know is that we owe them a debt that we can never repay."

The tiger cruise passengers, as well as the officers, crew, and Space Marines not on watch, attend the memorial service. Outer space, with its field of stars, is clearly visible through the glass. All of the Spacy and Space Marine personnel are clad in formal dress uniforms, on this saddest occasion. Taps is played and the servicemen all salute, their hands going to their brows, feelings of sorrow permeating the room.

Oooooooooo

"Thank you, Commander Sterling," says United Nations Secretary General Tokhtamysh Borjigin. "You are dismissed."

"Yes, sir," replies Lieutenant Commander Miriya Parina-Sterling, turning around to leave the conference room.

The Secretary General remains silent for a moment. Along with dealing with renegade Zentraedi and their native allies in large parts of the world, the distant threat of the Robotech Masters, now he has to deal with contact with another hostile alien spacefaring species. "Exedore," he asks, "do you have any further insights?"

"I'm afraid not, your Excellency," replies the Zentraedi minister. "As I have said, the Invid were one of the Robotech Masters' enemies. Perhaps a review of the battle data from their attack on the _Tokugawa_ will help us in case your expeditionary ships encounter them again."

"Well, sir, you can tell us where their homeworld is?" asks an admiral who is the Chief of Spacy Operations. "Perhaps aiming hundreds of cannon ships at their homeworld will make them think twice about messing with Earth!"

Others in the meeting nod. They had all read the casualtuy reports from the Invid raid against the _Tokugawa_. Wanting payback is understandable.

"The Invid were driven away from their homeworld by the Zentraedi," answers Exedore. "They were scattered across the galaxy, hiding in remote areas, only emerging to raid the Masters' ships and space habitats. The _Tokugawa_ uses technology similar to that of the Zentraedi; that no doubt is the reason the Invid attacked."

"Your Excellency, there is something we need to consider," says Admiral Bruno J. Calavicci, Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces. "The Zentraedi were a third of the Masters' military might, according to our friend Exedore. But with the Zentraedi no longer defending the Masters, that could embolden the Invid and perhaps other enemy or even neutral powers to strike at the Masters, to get a bigger slice of the galactic pie. And our expeditionary fleet could get caught in the crossfire, like the _Tokugawa_ was."

"Sirs and ma'ams, if the Invid were enemies of the Masters, perhaps we can make an ally of them," says one of the generals sitting at the table. "The Masters may very well want to finish what Dolza had started, and we will need to at least be on speaking terms with the Invid if they decide that."

"The complication, General Edwards, is that we know little of the Invid," says Admiral Archibald Cramer, Commandant of the United Nations Ocean Patrol. "We don't even know if they are all unified, or divided into bloody clans or tribes fighting each other as well as the Masters."

"Any thoughts, General Maistroff?" asks Secretary General Borjigin.

"My job has just gotten a lot harder, sir," Maistroff replies to his commander-in-chief.

Oooooooooo

The _Tokugawa_ is back on Earth, floating on the Caribbean Sea near Barbados. The passengers of the tiger cruise had disembarked over five days before.

"Admiral on deck!" a sergeant barks as Vice Admiral Shin Lung walks along the corridors, escorted by two Spacy policemen in white helmets and blue overalls. He stops at one of the doors.

"Captain Hayes is waiting inside, sir," says a sergeant.

"As you were, Sergeant," replies the admiral.

Admiral Shin enters the room. It is a large office, with a desk in the back, a bookcase on the right side, a Hon steel filing cabinet in the corner. A poster hangs on the wall, showing a Stonewell Bellcom VF-1S Valkyrie veritech, with a black-and-yellow trim, in its three modes.

Behind the desk, Captain Lisa Hayes stands up.

"Captain Hayes reporting as ordered, sir," she says. "Welcome to the _Tokugawa_ , Admiral Shin."

"Thank you, Captain," replies Shin. "I want to thank you for your performance during the tiger cruise. I have come here to inform you that you will be removed from command of the Tokugawa."

Lisa's eyes widen. She had this command for the past two years. "Could you at least let me provide my own input on this decision before it becomes permanent?"

"The decision has already been made, Hayes," says Admiral Shin. "Still, I suppose I could give you one of the reasons why you are being removed from command."

"If I may ask, sir?"

"Command of the Tokugawa is too small a job for a commodore."

Lisa's ears perk up upon hearing the word commodore. The admiral hands her a little cardboard box. Lisa opens it and finds two sets of single silver stars, and two shoulder boards, gold-colored, with a single star on each board.

"Congratulations, Commodore Hayes," says Shin.

"Thank you, sir," replies the new United Nations Spacy commodore. "So what will be my new assignment?"

"On Monday, you will report to General Maistroff at HQREFCOM in Moon Base ALuCE to take your post as staff advisor regarding strategic planning. The general and his staff will provide you with more details, but I can tell you that you will assist the Expeditionary Forces in setting up shipyards, repair docks, and supply depots in deep space, light years away from Earth. If we are to make contact with the Robotech Masters, and find out more about the Invid and other potential enemies- and allies- we will need our expeditionary fleet to be able to resupply and repair far from Earth. This is a very important job. General Maistroff and I have full confidence that you will excel at your new post."

"Is there anything else, sir?"

"Pack your things."

Ooooooooo

"Commodore Lisa Hayes," says Captain Rick Hunter. "It has a nice ring to it, ma'am."

"I will still miss this place," replies Commodore Hayes.

The two of them are inside the captain's stateroom on board the _Tokugawa_. The stateroom is rather similar to a large studio apartment, with a bed, a desk, and a kitchenette in an alcove. A soft carpet covers the floor around the bed. It is a refuge for the rare moments a captain has time to rest.

"You've spent two years commanding this ship," replies Rick. "But I suppose this new job is yours is really important. I mean, I understand why we need to set up supply bases and shipyards out there. But I can't imagine doing that myself. I mean, in my current job, my ass already spends too much time planted on a chair behind a desk as it is."

"Here's the last of my things," says Lisa, closing a suitcase sitting on the bed that had been her bed for two years.

The two officers hear the door knock. Rick walks to check it out. He opens the door.

"Hi, Aaron," says Rick.

"Lisa wanted to see me," says Commander Aaron Leibowitz. "I know she's leaving the ship." He looks at Lisa. "Congratulations on your promotion, Commodore Hayes."

"Thank you, Commander Leibowiotz," replies Lisa. "I want to inform you that my first act as commodore was to submit a letter of recommendation to Spacy Headquarters, asking them to assign you as captain of this ship."

"That..that would be an honor."

"Aaron, you've been my right hand these past two years. No one is more qualified to command this ship than you are."

"We'll see if Spacy Headquarters agrees," answers Aaron. "Nevertheless, I will be ready. Is there anything else?"

"Dismissed."

"Aye aye, Commodore Hayes."

Aaron leaves the stateroom.

"Commodore Hayes," says Rick, "I formally request that you accompany me on a recon mission to downtown Bridgetown, ma'am."

"Request granted," answers Lisa.


End file.
